Creating scyborg assemblages of hope in UK Higher Education

This article offers an analysis on the importance of staff and students coming together to transform British neoliberal universities through assemblages of hope among scyborgs (multiple organisms which are part of universities). I have developed the term scyborg assemblages of hope to understand how individuals and groups challenge oppressive systems within UK universities. Scyborg assemblages of hope is a praxis and pedagogical approach aiming to imagine alternative joyful futures. It is co-created between students, staff and community collectives outside the university to promote communication, listening and reflection. The connections made through this praxis are multiscalar and often contradictory. Yet, they help to facilitate a decolonising university with an explicit commitment to radical systemic change. Scyborg work is contradictory because it happens within the UK neoliberal university but still leaves room to create new assemblages which (momentarily) disrupt the functioning of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This paper draws on creative methodologies (alphabet attack, Lego Serious Play, poster creation and body mapping) used in two workshops, one focus group and two community activities with underrepresented undergraduate students at a Russell Group university. Such co-production of knowledge explores how the neoliberal university can and is continuously transformed into (momentarily) decolonial realities.